Induction of the Parish Pastoral Council

Induction of the PPC at Virar

By Loreen Fernandes

The newly-elected members of the Parish Pastoral Council of the Resurrection Church, Virar (E), were formally inducted at the 8.00 am Eucharist, on Sunday, March 6 by Fr. Lawrence D’souza, the newly appointed Rector and parish Priest, assisted by Fr. Blany Pinto.

Over the past 3 years, the parish team has rightly emphasized the pivotal role played by small Christian communities in creating leaders and sustaining a vibrant parish. We have 13 communities and each community is further divided into clusters consisting of 10 -15 families headed by a cluster leader. There are 13 community leaders and 38 cluster leaders. There are a number of cells/associations actively functioning in the parish. Each cell has 3 leaders which form the executive committee. All this has given an opportunity to the parishioners to blossom as leaders and they are extremely grateful to the parish team.

During the month of January and February, elections were conducted for the posts of community leaders and cluster leaders. The result of the process mentioned above is a ready willingness on the part of many individuals to volunteer for leadership posts in the parish, a phenomenon not witnessed earlier.

As the newly-inducted Parish pastoral council members pledged to be servant-leaders, modeled on the example of Christ, we wish them tenure of fruitful service.

Bosco Bonding 2011

Bosco-Bonding 2011

Loreen Fernandes

The 9 day novena to Don Bosco culminated on Sunday, January 30 with a festive mass at 9.30 am. In his homily, the parish priest explained Don Bosco’s educative system and exhorted the Parents to be guided by it as they bring up their children.

The Bosco- Bonding 2011 - the much awaited annual parish event provided a fitting platform for the entire parish to celebrate the feast in the evening. Around 900 parishioners joined for the evening programme. The grand inaugural march that witnessed an unprecedented participation set the ball rolling for an evening of housie, spot prizes and music and dance which culminated in a sumptuous dinner for all. The MC added spice to the programme with timely humorous jokes. The Winners of the raffle tickets that were being sold in aid of our up-coming burial ground were declared. The presence of Fr. Edwin Colaco among us, who initiated the mega-event last year, was much appreciated.

Kudos to the cultural committee for planning out such a lovely evening. The raffle committee displayed efficient organization skills in coordinating the prize distribution. We indeed feel proud and privileged that we belong to Don Bosco and to a Salesian parish. The vibrancy and sheer dynamism of the parish is truly contagious. Long live Don Bosco!